


hue and contrast

by justjoy



Category: The Good Doctor (TV 2017)
Genre: Gen, Post-Episode: s01e15 Heartfelt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-17
Updated: 2018-03-17
Packaged: 2019-04-03 17:56:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 697
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14001456
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/justjoy/pseuds/justjoy
Summary: It feels like the entire day’s been playing on loop in Claire's head – or at least the shoddily-cut-together highlights reel of it, everything with Boris and Park and Jared.(or, an episode coda to 1x15, "heartless".)





	hue and contrast

**Author's Note:**

> [mild warning for mention of /that/ particular event in the episode itself]

It feels like the entire day’s been playing on loop in her head – or at least the shoddily-cut-together highlights reel of it, everything with Boris and Park and Jared – god,  _Jared_ , she doesn’t even where t–

“You’ve been staring at that locker for fourteen minutes,” comes a voice out of nowhere, and Claire can’t even pretend that she doesn’t startle a mile out of her skin. 

She looks up to see Shaun standing there, somehow managing not to look too out of place in the locker room despite the tux. “Hey. Didn’t see you at the gala,” she says, and it probably sounds inane but she doesn’t have the energy for anything more right now.

“I didn’t see you, either,” he answers, joining her on the bench when she scoots over to make room. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you.”

She glances at Shaun out the corner of her eye: he looks frazzled enough that she wonders what exactly he’d been doing, but the crisp lines of the suit fit him nicely, and he’s always been meticulous about his clothes anyway. 

Claire feels suddenly conscious of how her heels have been kicked to one side, hair a tangled mess from where she’d given up midway through unpinning it – she tugs at it half-heartedly now with a sigh. “No, it’s my fault for zoning out. It’s been... a really long day.” 

And she’s already wincing belatedly at how utterly lame that sounds, but Shaun only asks “Did something happen?” a little hesitantly, and Claire’s almost expecting him to follow up with a clarification that lots of things did happen every day so much that she doesn’t realise it’s her own voice filling the silence until she does.

“Someone shot himself in front of me today,” Claire hears herself saying, sound echoing oddly between the words. “A man that  _I_  found as an organ donor for my patient, and I just – ”

It’s a relief when her voice breaks.

She closes her eyes, leans back against the wall, and doesn’t jump this time when Shaun speaks.

“Avery was shot because of events that may have been at least partially my fault,” he says, and she  _does_ startle at that because she’d almost forgotten. “Would you like a hug?”

Claire’s eyes fly open. “You don’t even  _like_  hugs,” she blurts without really meaning to.

“I just don’t like feeling trapped,” he answers with what’s probably supposed to be a nonchalant shrug. “But they’re important to most other people.”

Then Shaun says: “And you do. Like hugs,” he adds before she can ask, and god, Claire doesn’t think she’s ever going to stop revising her expectations of Shaun Murphy but she could – well. 

She could hug him right now, is how that sentence usually goes, and she huffs a breath of amusement at her own trainwreck of thought. “Yeah, I guess I do.”

He nods, as if she’d actually said something intelligent instead of feeling dead off her feet. “I didn’t like having to mingle at the gala either, but Dr. Andrews helped. Even though I didn’t laugh at any of his golf jokes.”

No wonder he’d looked so exhausted, Claire realises, imagining Andrews strutting around with Shaun in tow, like the head of surgery with a hotshot resident that he is. 

She does laugh at the mental image, then, ignoring the pang of regret that came with remembering what being absent from the gala might mean for her future here. “Well, I’d hope that hugging me would rank slightly better than rubbing elbows with all those bigwigs who think they’re funny.”

Shaun’s silent at that one, for long enough that she doesn’t think he’s going to reply until he finally does. “I wouldn’t know, I’ve only done one of those.”

Claire smiles faintly as she leans over to wrap one arm around him, quick and light, before letting go. “And now you’ve done both, so...”

He seems to consider it for a moment. “This is better. You were right.”

“Yeah, I feel better now too,” she tells him, and it’s a bit of an exaggeration, really, but seeing his expression brighten is almost enough to make it true anyway.

 

 


End file.
